Freefall

I think it's time to take a small break as I'm in the middle of one of the craziest runs I've ever seen. No matter what I've got, I'm either 2nd best or run into a board that I can't do anything with.

I have dropped over $600 at Full Tilt over the last 4 days and it's been situations like AQ vs AK, set vs. flush, 2 pair vs straight. The poker gods are really having some evil fun with me right now.

Tournaments are even worse. I won't even go there.

Think it's time to forget about poker for a week and do something else.

Full Tilt's Revenge

aka Fuck Full Tilt aka 2nd Best is Most Expensive

I have dropped about 1/2 of my balance at Full Tilt in about 48 hours.

I will blame myself for one buy-in's worth

The others, well, you decide

Top 2 vs. bottom set
Mid flush vs. nut flush
Trips (A kicker) vs. boat
Set vs. set
AK vs. AJ with a A 10 A J 2 board (all in on flop)
....and set vs. river flush (all in on turn)

I guess I'll be dropping down for a while now. Funny thing it isn't just cash games, it's tourneys and SnG's, too.

I got busted with AQ vs 78, KK vs JT, QQ vs. A 3, and KQ vs QT

I'm still way ahead, but quick bursts of unlubed butt sex make me hurt.

Oh well. I'll live.

Thanks for the butt sex Full Tilt

Fun times at Full Tilt as I dropped 2 buy-ins at $100 NL tonight with a fucking ton a 2nd best hands.

I can pretty much sum it up in 2 hands

Early on, there was this super loose guy to my right, calling all kinds of raises and seeing a ton of flops. He limps and I make it $5 to go. He calls....of course.

Flop 9 J Q

He bets out like he always does, I call

Turn Q, he bets out, I raise, he moves in, I call for $30 more.....he has K 10 and I don't fill up

There goes one stack

Later on, I have AK on the button and make it $6 with 2 limpers in front. SB calls

Flop A J 8

SB has about $40 in front and bets out $10, I put him all in, he calls with AJ

I laid down TPTK more than once and could NEVER get anybody to fold.

I went over to Stars and got somebody to lay down a hand after I reraised them and just about fainted.

I've got stuck for about $250 over the last week, but I seem to have "2nd Best Hand" syndrome lately. I'm not going too nuts, just kind of frustrated with my inability to get anybody off hands and them have them suck out.

That poker can be an evil little guy

....plus, I'm a dumbass.

After I put up last night's post, I decided I hadn't had my fill of poker and decided to try and little $100 NL at Full Tilt.


Bad idea.


I was clearly braindead and got stacked within 20 hands when my QQ ran into AA on a rag board and lost the rest when the same guy sucked out an A in a KQ vs. A9 on a K 3 2 J A board.


I really don't think I'm much of a mood to play today....but you know how that goes.

I'm watching the Tiger Golf Clinic or the TV is calling it the British Open.

I may go see Clerks 2 today. Poker is way down the list right now.

24 hours at the boat

Met up with a couple of +1 guys at Caesar's Indiana for fun, food, and poker.

I really didn't have a set same plan for the two days. I knew there would be some $1/2 NL, maybe a little LHE, and possibly the $200 buy-in MTT on Saturday....depending on how I ran in the ring game.

I got there at around 5:30, met Troy at the hotel, got checked in and headed to the poker room. The list for 1/2 wasn't too bad and we were both seated (a different tables) within 20 minutes or so. Early on, I got blasted by the deck, flopping and boat and top set within 20 minutes. The only problem was, I didn't get much astion on either, but I was still up $100 or so.

I went through most of that when this hand came up.

I get Ad Kd in the SB. 4 limpers, I make it $12 and get two callers. Flop is Q 7 9 with a diamond. I bet out $25 and get a caller, which I put on TP, mid-pair (like 88, 99), or another Ax. The turn is a Jd. I bet out $60 with 2 overs and the nut flush draw. CO thinks long and hard and finally calls. Now I'm a little bit worried. At the same time, I don't think he's got TP or he would have raised by now. The river is another Q, so I bet out the same $60 and he calls with.......7d 8d. Nice call. Oh well.

After that, it got to be a blur because everybody saw I'd bet without it and started giving me action. That, coupled with a donk calling station to my right, and I ended up $400 up for the session. I really wish I could give you some more deail, but I honestly don't remember how I got there.

Went back to the room at around 1 AM to get some rest for the next day. Got back downstairsa at 11 or so and there was, maybe, 6 tables going. It was kind of funny becuase there was one 1/2 table and 6 of the guys were from my table the previous evening. I mulled around and couldn't decide if I wanted to play in the $200 MTT. It was going to be a freeroll with my winnings the previous evening and not the best BR decision, but I felt good and decided to take a shot.

I proceded to play some of the better poker I've played in a looooong time.

Let me preface this with one thing. I had 2 pocket pairs the entire tourney.

It was unbelievable. I have never seen play that bad in a $5 SnG, much less a $200 buy-in. Limps. Calls. Calls with "favorite hands" for your tourney life. I wish I had $200 to piss away like these people did.

I muddled along for the first hour and a half. Best hand was KQ and went to the first break with around 2000 in chips. My table was super tight/passive. Very little raising, but lots of calling. It took a BIG bet to get the blinds and I decided to just sit back. I knew at some point, I would have to shift gears and pick up some chips, but I bided my time.

With the blinds at 50/100, I was down to 1700. I had a couple of very weak players to my right and when the button hit me, I kicked it in. For 5 of the next 10 hands, I jammed PF. Now, a couple of those hands, I had AQ, but I was jamming with any two, just to get back in it. I knew the table well enough to know that a short burst like that would probably work. It did.

My quick shift got me up to around 3200 and safe for a bit, but I was still card dead. W

With the blinds at 100/200, 25 ante, I made it 500 to go from MP. CO called, but he had been pretty loose, so that didn't surprise me. He was also short, so I was looking to get him out as long as the flop wasn't stupid. Flop was Q 3 4. I led out with 1000 and he instacalls.....which freaked me out. Rag on the turn, so I checked to see what he would do (I know, I should have went ahead and put him all in) and he checked behind. 10 on the river and I put him all in for another 600. He calls and shows......A 4. WTF? Thanks for playing.

That was the last hand where I really got to play. Blinds started flying up, doubling and before I knew it, blinds were 500/1500 with a 200 ante. At this point it had been about 3 levels since I'd seen anything resembling a hand. I'd pushed 5-6 times with a couple of random aces and crap like that, but I was just trying to survive. The table makeup had changed and there were a couple of pretty solid players there now and I couldn't be as cute as before. My swan song went like this.

We're 6 handed and I get Qs 10s in the CO. Blinds are 2 away from me and this is the best hand I've seen in 2 orbits. I've still got about T6000 left and a call will still be felt by the people following me. I take my stand and push.......only to have the BB wake up with AQ. Thanks for playing. I don't feel bad because I had sucked out on the girl who busted me, so I guess it was a bit of karma.

Still, with as little as I had to work with, I felt pretty good about my showing. If I get a no-call there, I'm more than likely at the final table.

I do have one small ccmplaint. While I like the early blind structure, they get pretty stupid later on. When we were at 20, the blinds were 500/1000, 100 ante and the average stack was 7500. For some reason, I think the average stack shouldn't be short thie quick.....then again, you can't play forever.

All in all, a solid weekend. I think I cleared about $150 after room, food, and the tourney. Not bad.

I really wish I lived closer to Louisville. There is so much easy money at that place. Sheesh.

I think I'm on a bit of a heater

I just hope it continues.

Over the past weekend, I've had a big run online. I had my best $1/2 session yet and last night, I took down a 180-man SnG over at Stars. Now, it was only a $4 one, but the quality of play between $4 and $20 isn't as much as you'd think. Anyway, it was more about avoiding blowups that doing anything spectacular. I doubled up early, hung around, doubled up again, hung around. As the bubble starting closing in, I was mired in the bottom 3-4 positions. With 20 left, I was in dead last. It wasn't anything I could control as I had absolutely nothing to work with and had a fairly deep table that was calling off most all-ins. I caught a break and doubled up with A4 vs KJ to make ITM.

From there, it got exciting. Once the bubble popped, I doubled up again when I got AA in the SB. I only had about 4 BB left, so that was nice. 3 hands later, I got TT, pushed, got called by 2 of the big stacks and shot from 15th to 6th. Once I got chips, the game changed a bit. I started shoving chips all over the place and since I'd had nothing to work with, the table just bent over and gave up. By the time they realized I was pushing with all kinds of hands, I was in the chip lead. I gave some back when one of the other bigger stacks realized what I was doing, but I was still in good shape in 3rd place as we hit the final table. I let a couple of the short stacks push, I busted one with AK vs A6, and I was in the lead again. I really don't remember how I got the heads up, but that's what happened.

The heads up was fun and frustrating all at the same time. I went hyper aggressive. Raising with just about everything short of 2 7 off. The villain folded about 80% of the time, called a couple, and jammed a couple. This guy was incredibly weak.....and lucky. I caught some big hands, but couldn't get him to play. I had a 2 to 1 chip lead for a long time until I pushed with A2 and ran into his KK. To my credit, I maintained focus and eventually kept after him until I got the lead back. About 10 hands later I finally wore him down got him in a hand with 77 vs. KQ. He didn't improve and I took down my first 180-man.

It felt pretty good as I've been mired in a tourney slump. Albeit the competition was fairly soft, it still takes a little something to beat 180 people. It also boosted my roll over at Stars, which never hurts.

As of last night, I've tripled my online roll over the last 2 1/2 months. Not bad. It's a shame I had to cash out as much as I did last year, or I would be very pleased with my online situation right now.

Can't complain, though, I'm hanging in there.

Tomorrow afternoon, I'm heading up to Caesar's Indiana to meet up with a couple of +1'ers for a couple of days of poker action. Looking forward to it as I don't get to play that much live. I've played maybe 50 hands today and made about $40, nothing major, but a nice little profit for an hour's work.

I should have some interesting stuff to post Sunday as the boat always yields something to remember. If I can win 5% of what I did last time, I'll be a happy camper.

:D

Up up up....down down down

Short, but interesting session tonight.

Bought in for a full stack at $100NL. 3rd hand get 33 on the button, raised to $3, by MP, CO calls, I call, SB calls

Flop 9 6 3

Check, CO bets $5, I raise to $15, SB jams.

Come on buddy, you're not fooling anybody. I instacall, he's got A 6 off, and I double up. I play pretty solid for the next 1/2 hour, hovering around the $200 mark and this hand happens.

I've got As Qs in the SB, UTG+1 raises to $3, MP calls, I call.

Flop is A J 3 with two spades.

I bet out $8, UTG+1 calls

Turn is a rag (no spade)

I bet out $8 again, UTG+1 raises to $25, I put him all in for another $50. There are a ton of possible hands he could have here, many of which I can beat and my draw beats them all.

He had JJ for a set. I didn't catch. Oh well. I like the play, but really didn't have him on JJ by the way he played the flop. Nicely played, but I liked my move on the turn as well.

Later on, I have QQ vs AA (short stack) and I'm down to $3 profit. However, it was an active table and I was able to clear another $20 on my initial deposit bonus.

I'm not too bummed about the session other than I was way up and almost bailed, but I still came out ahead. The only thing I might have changed was the weak bet/jam with the AQ, but it was done to look like a trap, he just had a bigger hand than I thought and I didn't hit my draw.

To be honest, I haven't been in the big of a mood to play and probably shouldn't have played tonight. Meeting up with Troy at Caesar's on Friday, so I may take a day or two off to make sure I'm sharp.

Ha ha....take a day off.

I'm funny.

***EDIT***

The AQ hand was overaggressive. He gave me a good price to call and I shouldn't have pushed. I was going to lose some money here, but didn't need to lose as much as I did.

Slow weekend, but a heck of a finish

I've been mired in a slow period for a while now. I have a big win only to drop it back in the near future. Sometimes, I'll drop a couple of buy-ins and come back strong with a big night, but the net result is me not making any long term gains.

That being said.

Friday night, I decided to gamble with what little Party money I had left. I had like $25 and played in the $22 MTT at 9:20. Played pretty solidly, doubled up early when I pushed with A 10 only the have A 5 call on a A x x board. Later on, I made a good call with JJ when a guy moved in over top of my 2/3 pot bet (rag board). He had KJ. I had QQ run in AA right at the bubble and hung on to cash. The cool thing was that, for some reason, Party says I cleared the bonus.....even though I know I didn't. Thanks for the free money, Party.

Saturday was a no-poker day for me. I took the wife shopping and to a movie. We saw Click, which was a lot better than I expected. Essentially, it's a version of "It's a Wonderful Life", but still, I enjoyed it. We met up with her family for dinner and then played some Trivial Pursuit with her brother and sister.....which I pwned.....I am the god of useless information.

Sunday was poker day. I haven't played as many tournaments as I would like, so I decided I'd fire at a few and see if I could make a FT run.

Nope.

Same old shit. Get up early, get some aggro/calling station to my left. Go card dead. Make a push in a race and lose. I did finish 70th out of 870 in the Party thing Friday night, but, for the life of me, I can't win the race that puts me over the edge in a tourney. To go deep, you're going to have to win a race.....I haven't been.

I played in 3 different tourneys and came up dry. I played a little $100 NL at FT and made back most of my losses, so, there I was, right back where I always seem to be.

Kelly got some ribeyes and I grilled them for dinner. They were goooooooooooooot. I've got to say, it's worth the extra $$$ to upgrade from sirloin to ribeye. MMmmmmmmm goooood.

OK, back to poker.

Since my little windfall a couple of weeks ago, jumping up a level or two isn't that big of an issue. I'm still doing my damnedest to try and avoid using any of "my" money online, but it's there if I need it. Anyway, I got on Full Tilt and fired up a $1/2 NL table. I've had some decent luck and I'm getting used to the numbers. That's the biggest thing for me. I've played $25 NL and $50 NL for so long, it's weird to make a $30 continuation bet. I'm getting used to the idea. Table seemed to be a good one for me as there were a couple of good players, but also some real loose guys, who I thought might pay me off on a big hand.

I got up early when I had QQ vs 10 10 and the guy wouldnl't let it go. Of course, he only had $30 in front of him, but I got it. I muddled around for about a half an hour, didn't really get involved in anything. I limped a couple of times with suited connectors, but I was working on building a rock image when this hand came up.

I get Kh Jh in MP2. Now, I've probably played 3 out of the last 40 hands, so I decide take a spin. I bump it up to $6, a smallish raise, looking like I want action. Button was a little looser than me, but not much, calls, BB calls.

Flop is Q 10 x.

OESD, just what I was looking for. I decide to check/call, representing a big Q.

Turn is a rag

I lead out, because I want to maintain the Q. If he raises I'm gone, but he only calls. This tells me he's not as strong as his flop bet represented.

River completes the straight. I make a solid bet, but nothing huge as I want a call with the nuts. He obliges and I almost double up.

6 hands later, I get AA in the BB (thank you God). There's a raise and a reraise in front. CO made it $6, SB (loose/wild) jumps it to $30. Now, normally, I'd just call or make a weakish raise hoping to pull him along, but I don't wan't 3 way action and I think he might bite on an overbet......so I jam.

It takes him forever, I actually thought he was going to fold, but he follows through and calls with.....AK. Thanks again.

In the space of 2 hours, I took what had been a really slow day and turned it into one of my very best cash days. My online BR is the highest it's ever been. In fact, since April, I have almost tripled my onllne roll.

Go me.

Wheeeeeeeeeee

My poker is soooo swingish lately.

Made back all of last night's losses in one hand. Spent 2 hours on Party and lost $15.

Not a whole lot to say this evening. Should have typed this up earlier.

I'm going to bed, I'll put up a meaningful post this weekend.

...

I just dropped about 40% of what I had at Full Tilt in about 30 minutes.

3 hands.

QQ vs KK on a rag board

I turn a flush, push, call, guy rivers a boat

AK vs A9 on a K 9 x board and 9 hits the river




I don't know if I suck at cash games or just have the gift of suckouts in huge pots.



I don't know what to do right now. I've been spinning my wheels for 2 months and then this disaster hits. I can't figure out if I've learned anything at this point or if I've just been lucky to have won what I have.





I have zero confidence right now.

Bleh

What a waste of a night

Played in the 7 PM $10 buy-in at Full Tilt, went about 1 1/2 hours deep only to bust in 5 hands.

KK vs. AK, A on river to lose 1/3 of my stack
QQ vs. AJ, A on turn, to lose 1/2 of my stack
Pushed with A8 s, called by QJ, QJ on flop

Then, I spent 2 hours bouncing between tables trying to find some juicy action and came up dry. Ended up bleeding off about $20 in blinds.

I gave up and watched a movie.

I wish I hadn't even started. I could have done 100 different things. Instead, I stared at a computer screen and either got sucked out on or got stuck at shitty tables.

There is a bright note. I didn't get stupid and try to "create" any action and end up getting my ass busted.

*sigh*. I may play tomorrow, I may not. I have seriously thought about cutting down on playing during the week because many of the fishes aren't playing...especially this time of year.

Breaking even.....the Top2 way

Unlike most online guys, I have a hard time committing one solid block of time to playing poker. I grab an hour here, 30 minutes there. Not the best way to get a good feel for a table, but I work with what I get. Add in to the fact that the wife's PC is in the same room and will start talking to me about anything and everything. I love her, but she has ZERO concept that I'm trying to pay attention to what is going on at my table(s).

So, It's Sunday, so that mean sleeping in just a bit. I was up until about 2:30 last night watching some DVDs I purchased and kind of lost track of time. I woke up at 11 AM, spent about an hour waking up, doing the married thing, etc. etc.

About 2:00, I decdied I'd play a little $1/2. It took me all of 11 hands to realize I needed to get up....now. 11 hands, zero of which let the flop hit for less than $10. Super aggro, lots of pushing....not a good money making table, so I bailed. I dug up a couple of $100 NL tables (I'm trying to work off my Full Tilt bonus) thought I had a couple of good ones. Of course I dig a hole for myself early with this hand.

1 limper to me, and I've got 4h 6h on the button. I make it $4 to go, limper calls. flop is 7 7 A, limper checks, I bet out 1/2 the pot representing the A, call. I'm not sure if he has and A, if he did, wouldn't he reraise. 5 on the turn, he checks, I check behind. The river bring another A and he checks AGAIN. OK, he doesn't have an A or there would be some money coming out. So I overbet the pot and he CALLS with KK. I don't know if I'm a donk for checking the turn or if he's the donk with check/call, check, check/call with KK, but he got my money.

OK, so I blow about 1/2 of my stack there, but I'm not too pissed. Just wondering if I should have fired that bullet on the turn. I drop about $25 more when I push PF against a short stack with QQ vs AK and he turns the K.

So, I'm down about $80 after about an hour and have to go pick up some pizzas in honor of Italy's World Cup victory (not really, but sounds good). We eat some pizza and I get sucked into watching some dumbass Freddie Prinze, Jr. movie. That didn't last long. I snuck out on the ploy that I was folding some clothes and headed back to the $100 NL tables at Full Tilt. This time I single table and don't buy in full....don't ask me why. About 15 hands in, I get QQ in MP. I make a standard raise and get a caller from MP.

The flop was a thing of beauty

4 Q Q THAT'S RIGHT....QUADS BITCHES. Geez, I'm praying that the other guy has some sort of pocket pair. Check, check on the flop.

A hits the turn, and I'm hoping that I'm up against AK or better yet AA.

Check, check again. Shit. This guy has something like JJ or worse.

Then the fireworks begin.

9 on the river and I bet out, of course.

I overbet to make it look like a steal, MP raises, and I instajam, he calls. He had AA. Ouch.

After that I had about 3 other mini sessions where I managed to pick up the rest of my losses and ended the day up right at even.

I have went through days like this many, many, many times. I really wanted to play a couple of tourneys today, but never had the time where I could block off the time I wanted....the glory of living at my place.

One little thing that is really frustrating me. I deposited at Stars to get that deposit bonus, but getting those damn FPP points is fucking hard until you get to $100NL. You get 1 FPP for every pot where the rake is over $1. Well, at anything under $100NL, those are few and far between.

All in all, an odd weekend. Took a hard hit Friday night, only to win that back Sat., and really didn't go anywhere today. I really would like to have a few consecutive winners, this is getting old.


Wait did I just say that? Yeah, I did.

Today was better than yesterday

If yesterday was one of my worst sessions I can remember, today wasn't spectacular, but pretty damn good.

I sat down at around 2:00 while my wife was in the shower. We were going to my cousins birthday party and just hanging around the house until we had to go. I was still disgusted by the horrible session I had the night before and I was confident I could be a winner at the $1/2 NL level. So I hopped on Full Tilt and starting looking for a table. I was kind shocked at the number of tables going and had a good selection. I wanted one with a mix of short and full stacks. I like the shorter stacks because you can get them committed with a less than premium hand. The only thing that is dangerous with short stacks is that they can jam without the reservations that a full stack might have because of the decrease in investment.

Anyway, I find a pretty good table and right away I see that I have an opportunity to make up for last night. There is a maniac 2 to my left and a couple of tight/passives to my immediate right. There a guy on the opposite side of the table who has a bigger stack (>$400), but he seems to be a standard TAG. The maniac is just crazy. Constantly reraising, jamming, showing bluffs and mid pairs. I realize that I might have an opportunity to snag a nice pot if we tangle.

About 15 hands in, I get AJ s on the button (maniac is BB). There 1s 1 limper to me, so I pop is to $8. Maniac instacalls. A 3 6 flop, a good one for me. Check to me, I bet out $15, maniac calls. Turn is a 9. Maniac bets out $5 (which totally mindfucks me), so I raise to $25 to see where I'm at, he smooth calls which gets me worried that he could have something like A 3 or A 6. Q on the river. He checks and I check behind. He shows 3 10. That's right, 3 10.

Now I'm dreaming of a overpair vs. pair situation........

20 minutes pass and I've some some amazing shit out of this guy. Calls an all in from UTG with 33 vs. AK. Calls a pot bet on the river with 4 to a flush with none of that suit (neither did the other guy, but what a call).

Then we tangle again.

I get KK on the button. Maniac and MP limp. I don't want my boys up against a bunch of players, so I pop it to $10. Maniac pops it to $30. Wonderful. He's not scaring me, so I jam, pretty much expecting a call. If he's got AA. Congratulations. As expected, he calls with

88

Wow.

KK holds up and I drag a very nice $400 pot and I'm right back where I started before I sat down last night.

Party gave me $30 to screw around with. I played some shorthanded .10/.25, which totally bored me. I then donked off $10 in a 5 table SnG....don't ask me why. I went over to FT to try and little $1/2 NL again, but after about 20 hands I could tell this wasn't a good table for income, so I got up. Something I'm doing with more regularity. As you move up, it becomes more and more about table selection. I'm starting to realize that you need to identify money pits early and get out with minimal losses. Which, I can proudly say, I did.

After that, I went over to Start and played about 50 hands of $50NL, nothing big, just killing time. Made about $10, got tired, and now I'm typing this thing up.

I will sleep better tonight since I picked up what I lost. I realize I now have the funds to just reload.......but why? I got what I've got now by playing and learning, so why should I lose it and not be a bit bothered. The money I now have online is kind of like a trophy. I brought it up from basically nothing while I've really worked on learning how to play this game and I'm going to lose it without a fight.

Heck, I'd like to not have ever touch any of my bad beat money and just turn this into a nice roll.

It might just happen.

*sigh* It was one of those nights

I felt pretty good tonight. Kelly and I had dinner, went to a local comedy club, and by the time I got home, I was ready to play some poker. It was Friday night and I felt like gambling, so I fired up a couple of $1/2 NL tables.

Early on, play was really LAG, tons of PF raises and calls, but not a lot of showdowns, so I wasn't getting quite as much information. About 15 hands in I had a hand that should have been a sign to get out.

I get JJ in MP, raise it to $8, 2 callers, including the BB who is short with about $30 more. Flop brings rags, so I overbet to run out the Ax hands and the short guy calls with AJ. A on river. Thanks.

Pretty much like that all night. Had some calls that flat shocked me. A couple of b r u t a l suckouts, too

- 2nd nut straight on turn Q 9 with a J 10 K, bet out the pot, call, Q on river, check down, guy called with A 10

- AK/AQ on 4 occasions, missed flop all 4 times (solid PF raise, too)

- flush vs. higher flush on river

- trips vs. boat

To top it off, I prime these tables to pay me off (on a night where I looked at J 2 and Q 4 so many times I thought they were stuck to my hands) I get KK and JJ almost consecutively, both in position, table folds to me, I make a smallish raise, and pick up the blinds....BOTH TIMES.

I only had about $675 on there....that's now about $475. I NEVER had a hand where I could push and, like I said, suffered a couple of brutal suckouts.

$1/2 NL is holding true to my belief that there isn't any real difference in quality of poker above $25NL. I just got no opportunities tonight. It was worth the investment, though, I learned some things. I'll probably get back to $50 and $100 NL for a while. I'd still rather avoid depositing anything unless I have to.

I'm not mad, just real frustrated. I saw a ton of bad play and like $.50/1.00 NL, I'm pretty sure I can handle this level.....I jujst need the cards not to fuck me for 2 solid hours.

The best way I can sum up how the night went was this, I had 4 solid/big hands JJ (twice), KK, and AA

I got sucked out on the river vs AJ for a $50 pot and picked up the blinds with the other 3 hands. Hard to make any money like that

Life just got a little easier

I always figured I'd pull down a big $$$ in poker, just not this way.

If you haven't heard, I popped the Bad Beat Jackpot at Caesar's Indiana on Monday. It's all still kind of surreal and still sinking in.

The hand itself was wild and the minute I realized what was going on, I was transported to the Twilight Zone.

I now have the ability to pay off ALL of my credit card debt, fix the house, actually have a real bankroll, AND have some cash left over. Unbelievable. Actually, I'm trying to be pretty frugal with the money and I'm being very cautious pokerwise, too. I'm not going to jump headfirst into some higher limits that I may or may not be able to handle. I have to have a comfort zone at this point and getting stacked can't bother me. For this reason, I'm moving up a little, but not way up.

Life in general is a lot better now, too. By killing my plastic debt, I'm freeing up about $300 a month and the padding I'm building in will give me some ability to save and maybe, just maybe, get myself in a better financial situation overall.

I think $100NL is suited for where I am in poker and BR. It is enough that a solid session will keep me interested and I should see some growth, but not so high that if I take a bad beat or get stacked that I won't flip out. Also, it allows me to stay aggressive and attack pots and not play for nuts all of the time. I could probably handle $200NL (1/2), but I don't think I'm quite ready just yet, so I'm going to keep plodding along. it's worked for me over the last year, might as well stick with what works.

This $$$ is going to do a lot for me and give some reserves I haven't had in a long, long time. Feels pretty good. I've always hoped that I'd catch that one big break that might give me the opportinity to move up the poker ladder....well, I've got it.

Now I have to see what I can do with it.

New month, new attitude.

I wasn't real pleased with how June went. Usually, when you lose 20% of your roll, well, that's generally not a happy happy time. A lot of it dealt with playing some $100NL, which even though it's very beatable, some bad beats can drain on a roll that can't sustain several losing sessions at that level.

I had a couple of hands where the villian played it horrible (even though I was pushing with nothing) and it cost me a chunk each time. I shot one of the histories over to Josh (CP_magician) and he gave me some advice and liked the way I was going with my game.

In essense, he reaffirmed my thoughts on aggression and I've actually turned it up today.

The result.....I got back about 40% of what I lost last month....most of that was on one hand.

The hand broke down like this:

Playing $100NL at Stars (where I have $150...nice BR management, huh? :D )

I'm at a loose/passive table and down a little, but have just reloaded. I get Ad Jd in MP2. One limper in front and I make it $4 to go. CO calls and BB calls.

Flop is 3d 5s 7d ...great flop for me. BB checks, I bet out $8, CO calls, BB folds

Turn is a beeeeaautiful 9d (I love making flush draws on the turn)

I bet out $8 again, to look like I'm scared of the flush board. I'm hoping the CO has me on something like TPTK or a mid-pair. He does and min-reraises me. I think about just minreraising, but I gamble and jam the pot hoping he'll put me on a pair with diamond. He bites and calls. River pairs the board with the 3s and I cuss.

However, he just had JJ and I pull down a fine $180 pot making up for a large chunk of my early Stars losses. I'll probably scale down the $100NL games for a while. Too much stress...and it does affect my play with the BR that tight.

I played some at Full Tilt. Nothing major, mostly $50NL, won about 1/2 a buyin.

Solid day. I do like playing aggressive. I just need to make sure that I leave room to get out of a hand if the situation arises.

June is over....and it sucked

Pokerwise, anyway.

I feel like I've been pretty much card dead all month.

I've taken a few stabs at $100NL....and, to be honest, it didn't work out too well. I'm far from broke, but I'm down a bit. I'm still learning this crazy game, but I'm still amazed at how there are so many bad players out there with money. Sad.....but good.

Tonight I dropped another buyin at $100NL when I tried to bluff a calling station (nice one, Donnie) with J high. There was 3 to a flush on the board and I bet it hard, but he liked his A high hand.

Dropped about a 1/2 a stack with my dummy end of a straight ran into the nut straight....thanks poker.

Other than the +1 weekend, there is really nothing positive I can say about poker.

Well, let me rephrase that. I am starting to really get the role of aggression in poker. Applying it is another matter, but I will figure it out.......or go broke trying.